LanguageLine Solutions has added a “new language” to the more than 240 we already offer our clients. The language is English, with a twist. It’s plain English and it helps you communicate in terms that your reader will readily understand. The benefits include streamlined documents, higher customer satisfaction, lower costs, compliance with regulations, and communications that are better structured for clear translation outcomes.

Example:

Before: Your current dividend of $288.55 has purchased paid-up additional insurance in the face amount of $1,249.57. Your total paid-up additional insurance is $2,749.57.

After: We have bought more life insurance with your dividend: $1,249.57 since your last bill and $2,749.57 since you opened your account.

This example reflects an actual bill that was sent to thousands of clients across the American heartland. Sure, it’s in English but what kind of English? The 23 original words would confound the most fluent native speaker. Written in a more concise, easier to understand format through our new product, LanguageLine® Clarity℠, the revised information has only two fewer words. But they are straight-forward, real words, not acronyms or jargon, and they pack 100% more meaning for the life insurance customer receiving her bill.

With LanguageLine® Clarity℠, specialized writers translate jargon-laden text into plain English, through the Simplification process. But, it’s not as effortless as it sounds. First, verbal clutter is removed from the source text; next, core content is identified and restructured from the users’ point of view; and finally, plain, commonly used words are substituted for the lingual contrivances of jargon. The resulting documents are clear and meaningful to intended audiences.

In addition to being clearer, simplified documents are also, typically, shorter than the source materials on which they’re based — much shorter. Simplified through LanguageLine Clarity, they typically have 20-30% fewer words. Fewer words means significantly lower translation costs and efficiencies in printing, development, mailing, storage and fulfillment.

There’s an additional bonus with Clarity-treated text. It is easier to translate into other languages. LanguageLine spends a great deal of time and money making sure that its translators are well-qualified and trained, equipped to provide the most faithful translation of our clients’ source material. But if the source material is poorly organized or written, rife with acronyms and jargon, or overwhelmed with irrelevant detail, complexity rather than clarity is translated and published. By contrast, LanguageLine Clarity offers just what it says — clear, effective communication in every language..